The Forbidden Mark
by keller12917
Summary: A night out for Steve at his stag party brings unexpected results which almost causes him serious trouble the following day.


**A/N **

**S**mithy I know this is not exactly what you had in mind when you issued your challenge about Steve having an accidental tattoo but a variation of a tattoo was how it turned out in my writing.

This story is for you. Thank you for the support you give each of us.

Thank you Briroch for checking this story for me and correcting my mistakes.

**Disclaimer **

_I do not profit from the characters from "The Streets Of San Francisco" I am not the creator of the series, that is Quinn Martin. _

**The Forbidden Mark**

"How could you do this, Steve?! You know how I despise those things?! What were you thinking?!" Jeannie snapped, highly perturbed.

"I swear Jeannie I have no idea, I guess I was kind of out of it after the get together last night." Steve explained confused.

"That is no excuse! That is the last time I encourage you to go out with just the guys so you can have a total night of freedom without me around. I know it was stag's night and guys will do some things there that they might usually would not but did you have to do this?! You had better get that dealt with and I mean fast!" Jeannie ordered huffily

Mike had pulled up while the yelling was going on and made his way up the stairs he could hear the raised voice from the street and knew who it belonged to. He came in the house and checked for signs of violence, just in case, and edged his way toward the kitchen where he could hear the lecture continuing. He did not have any idea exactly what the trouble was but he felt bad for the recipient of his daughter's scathing reprimand.

He saw Steve slouched at the kitchen table his head in his hands as Jeannie's lecture still assailed his ears.

"Well, what seems to be the trouble here?" Mike asked jokingly

"Your buddy boy, your surrogate son, your partner, MY FIANCE! I will never let him out with the guys again, he came back with a blasted tattoo and you know how I feel about those things!"

"Uh...yes I do and by now I am sure the rest of the street does as well." Mike replied quietly

"He can't tell me how he got it, he seems not to even recall much of the evening. What am I going to do with him, Mike?!"

"Well, the first thing I would suggest is get him either a hair of the dog that bit him or coffee strong and black." Mike recommended.

"He says he is not drunk, swears he only had two and a half drinks no more." Jeannie responded doubtfully "And while we are at it dearest daddy of mine, why could you not have been there as you usually are, to keep an eye on Steve?! I mean that is one of your jobs in life isn't it, to keep both of us safe from harm?!

"Jeannie..." Steve started to speak hoping to calm her a bit.

"Steve, you are in enough trouble with me. You might want to remember that right now silence is golden." Jeannie said in a more gentle tone, yet still tersely.

"Sweetheart, I think what Steve was about to say possibly was it was stag's night. And while I was invited, as the future father in law, well I didn't feel it proper to attend the function. As you said yesterday it was to be a total night of freedom for Steve." Mike tried to explain himself.

"Not for getting a tattoo! And hopefully not for some other things as well; there are just some things I draw the line at. I still think you could have been there just to make sure things did not get out of hand." Jeannie snapped.

"Mike, if he only had two drinks and a half, there is no way he was not thinking straight. Especially when he knows how I feel about tattoos on anyone, but especially you and him."

Mike heard alarm bells go off majorly, and took the coffee pot from Jeannie's hand before she used it on Steve's head. Then he headed to his room to make a phone call. He got hold of Bill Tanner at homicide and asked him who all was there the night before with Steve. He told Bill to get all of them together and get them over here to his house as he wanted to know what went on, before Steve got lynched.

Within half an hour Bill Tanner, Norm Haseejian, Lee Lessing, Dan Healey, Tony Ramirez and Bernie arrived at the residence of Mike Stone. Mike got the door and they were ushered toward the kitchen where they saw a very angry and upset Jeannie. Some tried to turn around at the look she had, but Mike had made sure to bring up the rear and pushed them on into the kitchen.

"Alright, can any of you tell us, particularly Jeannie, what happened last night while you all were out?" Mike inquired curiously.

"Well we all had a good time that was for sure. There was this girl there..." Norm started to explain but the withering look Jeannie shot his way stopped him.

Steve looked up at Jeannie and he wished he hadn't, as she was turning her scowl in his direction. He did not know why he felt like he was on trial but that was how it felt to him, all he could do was shake his head.

"Jeannie I promise Steve did nothing wrong, none of us let the girl near him you have our word." Dan Healy assured her solemnly

"He did something wrong alright he has that thing on his skin to prove it!" Jeannie stated tersely.

"Uh, Jeannie we can explain that. See that is not real it will come off. Steve was out when it was done." Lee Lessing tried to explain hurriedly.

"Out?! What do you mean out? He promised me he only had two and a half drinks so how could that little amount put him out?" Jeannie asked in a no nonsense tone that demanded an explanation.

"See I dropped a super strong sleeping powder in Steve's drink and well after he was out..." Norm explained under Jeannie's and now Steve's withering looks.

"After he was out my cousin who is a tattoo artist that we had arranged to come there last night, drew a tattoo design on Steve just to make him think he had got a real tattoo but the ink he used definitely will come off easily." Bernie said slightly embarrassed.

"We did not know it was going to cause all this ruckus or that Steve would have the nerve to show it to you honest, Jeannie." Bill Tanner tried placating her temper.

They did not expect Jeannie to move that fast, but when they realized she was rushing at the whole lot of them, they turned and fled for the front door with Jeannie hot on their heels. As they were flying down the stairs and she was heading out after them Mike came behind her and grabbed his daughter, so the others could make a safe getaway.

Having seen that Mike had a good hold on Jeannie, Bernie had taken the time to holler at Mike that his cousin had informed him rubbing alcohol should remove that ink before he got in the car so they could make a safe escape.

Mike carried Jeannie back in the house with her threatening everything under the sun if she saw them again soon after what stunt they had dared to pull on her fiancé.

"Jeannie, now Bernie said rubbing alcohol should clean that ink off, so use your energy for something useful like cleaning up Steve rather than plotting murder or bodily harm."

Jeannie went off in search of rubbing alcohol in the bathroom and every bedroom of the house. Having no luck in her search, the kitchen was the next stop, where she dug through every cabinet for rubbing alcohol. Steve and Mike exchanged a wary glance when Jeannie found a bottle hidden behind a pot in another cabinet. Mike winced as Jeannie grabbed an old handtowel and carried the bottle to the table.

He couldn't help the thought of how much that bottle had probably cost and how long it had been kept hidden, since Steve presented it to him as a gift for his last birthday. Steve realized what Jeannie was planning to use the whiskey for and felt sick at the amount of money it had cost as well.

"I'll replace it Mike." Steve promised quietly.

After having folded the handtowel over, Jeannie poured a bit of the whiskey on it and scrubbed Steve's skin where the ink was. Steve winced and almost came out of the chair at how rough Jeannie was.

Steve could not help but notice the small smile that was on Jeannie's face while she cleaned and the way she glanced Mike's way, when she poured out more whiskey and he knew that the whiskey and the rough cleaning were his and Mike's punishment.


End file.
